Synopses & Reviews
Review
The New York Times Book Review In this novel, as in the most bracing of her short stories, Thon gives voice to the inarticulate, making vivid the yearning of those left out in the cold....Through the wildness and longing of her characters, she turns what could be a tale of grim endurance into a cry against forgetting.
Review
The Washington Post Book World Breathtaking authenticity and power.
Review
Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Brilliantly imagined and infused with a raw spirituality that cuts to the bone....Thon writes with a lyric power about the lives of lost souls who nonetheless passionately believe in a God "no longer capable of even the smallest miracles."
Review
Booklist (starred review) Thon's newest novel is her most haunting and devastating to date.
Review
Publishers Weekly (starred review) Evincing the psychological acuity demonstrated in the author's earlier Iona Moon and the stories of Girls in the Grass, Sweet Hearts benefits from Thon's skillful use of nontraditional narrative devices, haunting evocation of Native American history and legend, and mystical vision of the power of forgiveness and love.
Synopsis
Fusing family myth with American history, award-winning author Melanie Rae Thon exposes the never-ending chain of wandering and abandonment, the disappearance of mothers, and the drowning of people through the adventures of Flint, a sixteen-year-old boy that is half child, half full-grown criminal, and his little sister, Cecile. After eight years in juvenile detention and an escape from the Landers School for Boys, Flint returns home to the one person he loves and trust, his sister Cecile. Together they rob and terrorize a local doctor, steal their mother's car, and strike out alone on a desperate journey south to the Crow Indian Reservation their ancestors once lived upon.
But is Cecile Flint's accomplice or his hostage? No one knows. Only Marie Zimmer, the children's deaf aunt, understands the strange logic of their crimes, desires, fears, and devotion to each other. Marie has stories to tell, and though she will not speak, she is the only one bold enough to share the tale of Flint and Cecile.
In this devastatingly passionate story, the tales of a silent woman struggling to unravel the web of generational family violence are revealed through the celebration of life in the midst of sorrow. In the fierce light of her imagination, Marie interweaves the past and the present, inventing a language of signs subtle enough to illuminate the mysterious ways we are all connected.
Synopsis
A fusion of family myth with American History, Sweet Hearts is set in the wild and beautiful plains and forests of Montana and recounts the searing story of a brother and sister haunted by their family's turmoil and half-forgotten heritage. At sixteen, Flint has already spent eight years in detention. Part child, part full-grown criminal, he comes home to the one person he loves, his little sister, Cecile. Together they carry out petty thefts, steal their mother's car, and head south to the Crow Reservation. On ancestral land, Flint commits an act of violence that brings down the world around them. Is Cecile Flint's accomplice, or is she his hostage? Only the narrator, the children's deaf aunt, understands the strange logic of their crimes.
About the Author
Melanie Rae Thon is the author of the novels Meteors in August and Iona Moon and the story collections First, Body and Girls in the Grass. Her work has appeared in Paris Review, Story, Granta, and Best American Short Stories. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation. Originally from Montana, she now divides her time between the Pacific Northwest and Salt Lake City, where she teaches at the University of Utah.